The Vulpine Shinobi
by snickerslv100
Summary: The Uzumaki clan are the descendants of a mighty celestial warrior, their bloodline abilities making them just as legendary as the Senju and Uchiha clans. Rinnegan!Saiyan!Naruto. Naruto/Shion/Anko.
1. Kyuubi Attack

Title: **The ****Vulpine Shinobi**  
Category: Anime/Manga » Naruto  
Author: snickerslv100  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M  
Genre: General

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**Chapter 1: Kyuubi Attack**

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**Disclaimer: Any material that could potentially be considered infringement of copyrights and trademarks should be considered the property of their respective creators and owners. ****You are reading this of your own freewill, so please refrain from reading if you don't like graphic violence, explicit sexuality, pop culture references, vulgar language, a female Kyuubi, a Namikaze clan, polygamous relationships, random plot twists, character deaths, snakes, arranged marriages, or usage of drugs. Of course, some of those things may not even end up in the story, but I'd rather be better safe than sorry. ****Also, I tend to give cannon the proverbial finger.**

**Story Notes: This is a work-in-progress plot blurb without a definite direction for the plot as of now, so I'm perfectly open to suggestions. Reviews containing constructive criticism and praise will certainly speed up the updating process. Flattery will get you everywhere, contrary to popular belief. ****Negative reviews make my ego and subsequently my muse spontaneously implode, so try and refrain from that if you can****. ****I'm writing this to flex my creative side and refine my writing. Don't be surprised if entire chapters get completely changed after they're initially published. ****There are many clichés and stereotypes in Naruto fanfiction because it's been around for so long; I try for originality in my own way, and will likely give a shout-out to whatever other story gave me a basic idea or concept, though I've been reading for a long time and will likely forget where something came from.**

**Side Notes: Some of you may be wondering why I deleted 'Ascension of the Sage', though the rest of you likely haven't even heard of it and don't give a shit. Its because the negative review count was unsatisfactory. So this is my umpteenth redo, hoping to fix any and all problems. You can blame my OCD and a certain _asshole_ for that. Since doing that, I've decided to retry. 'The Vulpine Shinobi' will have many parts that will seem very similar to 'Ascension of the Sage' (both the original and botched rewrite).**

**Chapter Notes: This chapter is mostly cannon with a minor detail or two different that will have much more profound effects later on.**

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Minato Namiikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, was currently have his hand crushed. His wife, Kushina Uzumaki, was currently in the last throws of labor and the pain was nearly doubling the strength of her grip; and she already had superhuman strength in the first place. Her screams of agony were reverberating through the underground complex's thick walls. They came here since this was the one place that would be able to suppress the chakra of her tenant. "Kushi-chan, just a little bit more-"

**"**_**GET IT OUT OF ME!**_**"**came Kushina's enraged reply, a touch of the Kyuubi's energy starting to leak into her. The unique crimson hair that was a staple of her clan was suddenly flowing around her as if she were underwater, her eyes were blood red with slitted animalistic pupils, and her teeth were sharpening into vicious fangs. The sheer amount of pressure that her body was staggering was enough to make several of the medic ninja in their entourage to pass out.

Minato gulped as his hand was crushed under the weight of her tenacious grip. "Biwako-chan," he said to the midwife currently helping his wife give birth, "-please speed up the delivery." The woman nodded and started using the Mystic Palms technique to help Kushina cope with the magnitude of her agony. Within a few moments, a small blond child was crying out. Their little Naruto was finally out of the womb. The umbilical cord was not the only thing that needed to be cut.

The infant had the spiky golden hair that seemed to glow in the dim light of the underground complex, his brilliant blue eyes sharp and focused unlike any other infant. There were six whisker shaped birthmarks on his face, three per cheek, that gave him a vulpine appearance. Then, of course, there was the fact that he had a fox-like tail. "I can't believe I finally get to meet him," said Kushina in a soft voice. "He has the mark of an Uzumaki, only that his tail is like a fox's and mine is like a monkey's..." At those words, the tail that her clan was famous for snaked out from behind her and gently caressed her son's face.

Cries from the infant filled the cave turned hospital room and Biwako ordered a nearby ANBU to get some hot water. They rushed to the table where the basin waited. "I think the Kyuubi somehow affected Naruto's development when he was inside the womb, changing his features slightly," said Minato. Then another thought occurred to him, "I wonder if a full moon will affect him the same way..." Everyone in the room paled slightly, knowing just how catastrophic that would be if the boy didn't have a strong enough will.

Snapping back into attention rather suddenly, Biwako took Naruto from Kushina as Minato continued, "Okay Kushina! I know you're exhausted from the birth, but we've got to get the Kyuubi completely sealed!" She nodded. Just as he was about to stabilize the seal, two unmistakable cries of people dying ripped through their ears.

"BIWAKO-SAMA! ANBU-SAN!" Minato roared. His attention was grabbed by a new person who had somehow bypassed the guards and the barrier, wearing a hooded black cloak and an orange mask with black stripes and a single eye hole where the right eye should be; he was holding the baby in his arm, one arm prepared to strike Naruto, "Yondaime Hokage…Minato. Back away from the Jinchuuriki or your son dies at the ripe age of one minute."

Minato's eyes narrowed as he wondered how this masked assailant broke through the barrier, and just who the hell was this guy? The blond Hokage was about to move to attempt to rescue his newborn son when Kushina moaned as the Kyuubi began to push for its freedom from the seal on her exposed stomach. "Kushina!" he cried. The seal wasn't yet stable.

The masked assailant produced a kunai in his left hand and threatened the Hokage once more, "Back away from the Jinchuuriki…or don't you care if your son dies?" Minato came to an abrupt halt, not wanting his child to come to harm. He raised his hands in a placating gesture but, much to Minato's growing fear, the man threw Naruto into the air.

"NARUTO!" Kushina cried. Her husband's gaze turned absolutely murderous as the wailing newborn fell in the air and the man drew the kunai down in preparation for an upwards thrust. Time slowed to a crawl to Minato as his synapses kicked into high gear, one of the beneficial side effects of his intense speed training for using the Hiraishin no Jutsu. Before the precious bundle of blanket and child could fall another centimeter, Minato had Naruto in his arms as he rested his feet against the wall behind his attacker.

"You live up to the 'Kiroii Senkou' moniker, but what now?" the man quipped with a superior backwards glance, one that brought a Sharingan into prominence. Minato glanced down, seeing smoke flow up from the bottom of the baby blanket, and he recognized the flow as that of multiple paper bombs. A quick movement of his hands later and Minato separated the child from the impending explosion.

"MINATO! NARUTO!" Kushina cried when she noticed the man in her life and her newborn son disappear.

The house went up in fire and smoke as it exploded, and Minato, using his body to protect his and his wife's baby, was thrown away from the blast. "Thank Kami…you're not hurt," Minato breathed a sigh of relief as he caught his breath while sitting on the ground, cradling the shrieking infant who obviously did not like all the jostling. "Ow…" Minato winced as he finally registered the pain of a small piece of wood that had embedded itself in his lower right shin, through his pants and wrappings. He plucked the wood out and his mind was already trying to figure out why they had been attacked.

Knowing that the masked man was after Kushina, and that the unknown adversary planned separating him from his wife by using his son as bait, he used his Hiraishin once more to get Naruto to their house before quickly placing Naruto in a bed-sized crib and wrapping a blanket around him. "You'll be safe here," he muttered reassuringly, though he may have only been trying to reassure himself. "You'll wait here on your own for a bit Naruto…I've gotta go save your mom before it's too late."  
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Kushina was strung up with chains binding her wrists that were tethered to several giant boulders jutting up from a mountain lake; kanji were drawn around four vertical pieces of stone and along the chains, forming a seal, as the seal on Kushina gullet spread so that it began to manifest itself on the lower portion of her face. In her weakened condition, she was forced to kneel on another stone as the cloaked man stood before her and she pried for information, "What…are you after?"

"I came to rip the Kyuubi from your stomach and use it to crush Konoha," the man answered, his Sharingan blazing with unmistakable hatred in the surrounding darkness. "Minato's teleportation jutsu use a special marking that lets him instantly move from one marking to the next," the man continued. "I see he's incorporated it into the design of your seal. So he would always be there to protect you…but I managed to get away from him. And the seal has been greatly weakened from the birth…do you have any idea how long I've waited for this moment?"

Realization began to dawn on the new mother and her eyes locked with the Sharingan as it peered into her, allowing the man to enter the seal's inner construct where the Kyuubi was bound by chains to a large ball with each of its tails staked into it as well, along with its torso and all four paws. It tried to fight off its assailant's genjutsu, but the Sharingan prevailed and its slitted eyes shown with the Sharingan – the indicator that the man's control was a success. The chains began to melt and the stakes disappeared, allowing the fox's chakra to manifest as a chakra cloak around Kushina, who screamed in agony when the fox began to emerge from the seal.

Her captor brought his right up in a hand seal and uttered his first command to his new beast, "Come forth, Kyuubi no Yoko!" With a roar that shook the heavens, the full form of the beast emerged from its host. Below, the man turned from Kushina who had collapsed now that the chains were no longer holding her up and he commanded once more, "We head for Konohagakure no Sato."

"S-stop…" a severely weakened Kushina squeaked out.

The man did stop and turned back in slow surprise, "…The Uzumaki Clan is really something special. Even wrenching a Bijuu from your body didn't kill you right away." The fox above growled and the man spoke once more, mentally commanding the monstrous fox to smash the woman, "It's only fitting for the Kyuubi to kill its former Jinchuuriki." And just like that, the fox smashed its paw down where Kushina was laying, sprawled across the rock, unable to move, and upon contact, the section of ground exploded from the shear amount of power exuded from said Bijuu.

As the dust settled, Minato was crouching on top of a large tree, cradling his wife against himself. "Minato…" Kushina huffed and struggled to speak. "Is Naruto…is Naruto okay?"

The Yondaime smiled down at her, "Yes…he's fine. I hid him somewhere safe."

"Oh, thank Kami…" Kushina sighed, happy as any mother would be when knowing that their child was safe from harm. "Minato…stop him…stop the Kyuubi…they're headed for the village…" An unhappy Minato sighed as Kushina's eyes closed from exhaustion and he vanished with her.

The couple arrived via the Hiraishin and Kushina asked her spouse, "…Why?"

"Never mind why…stay with Naruto," her husband answered while he placed her beside their baby. Her eyes cracked open slowly and lay on her finally sleeping son.

"…Naruto…" she cried as she wrapped an arm around him as he lay beneath the blanket. She continued to cry as she pulled him close and the side of his head rested against her own. "Minato…thank you…" she managed to get out as the man clenched his fists and stomped the floor in anger.

"I'll be back before you know it," he proclaimed while slipping his signature Hokage Haori over his Jounin vest.

In a crouch, the Yondaime Hokage appeared, arriving on top of the most vertical rock that represented his spiky hair. The Kyuubi noticed immediately and turned his attention towards the most dangerous threat to its existence as the man stood up straight, the wind dramatically blowing his hair and haori to his left as it whipped by him. "So you noticed me already," he commented dryly and watched as the Kyuubi pulled its chakra to its mouth, condensing it into a large and lethal ball of energy.

"Not on my watch!" Minato retaliated as he began to run through some hand seals while the demon launched its attack at him. As it closed in on Minato, it suddenly disappeared and a large seal appeared in the sky in a dome fashion. When the seal faded, Minato was holding both of his hands out before him, fingers spread, the pointer fingers and thumbs touching each other, and held in place by his chakra was one of his Hiraishin tri-pronged kunai.

The resulting blast appeared five miles behind Konoha, clearly visible even from such a great distance.

Minato though was about to Shunshin to Hiruzen's side, preparing to inform him of the mysterious man that attacked during the last throes of Kushina's labor, when the same man who had attacked him prior rose up from the top of his face on the mountain. Forced to deal with the man, Minato whipped around, and attempted to drive one of his signature kunai knives into the man's head. But, much to his shock and dismay, the blade phased through him and as the blade cleared, his opponent reached out and grabbed the Hokage's arm.

"You will face me," the man stated. "…And we're done." Immediately, the man opened a spiraling vortex that attempted to suck in Minato. But, Minato's Hiraishin was faster, and he escaped the man's trap. "He teleported…" the man commented in an awed tone. "Talk about fast. Next time, I'll warp you the moment I lay my hand on you."

Minato appeared, skidding across the ground with a grunt, 'My attack slipped right through him. But a moment later he was solid and tried to…suck me into some dimension or something; what was that move?'

A humming sound alerted Minato to said man's arrival, who spoke as he solidified, "You won't escape me."

As the two opposing super ninja stared each other down, Minato's brain was searching for a solution, 'What is that? Is it a Jikunan Jutsu? Whatever he did, it must be how he moved so far after taking Kushina! He defeated ANBU under the direct command of the Sandaime, got past the most top-secret barrier we have, and must have known the seal would be weak while Kushina was giving birth…Then with the seal undone he took the Kyuubi and marched straight into Konoha without so much as pausing to deal with the barrier…there's only man I can think of that makes sense…'

"Are you Uchiha Madara?" Minato questioned. The man didn't answer, choosing instead to remove the hood from his head, revealing short spiky dark hair. "No…you couldn't be," Minato continued. "He's long dead…"

"Oh…" the man interrupted. "I don't know about that…"

Minato continued as if he did not hear, "…On second thought, it doesn't matter who you are. But why have attacked Konoha?"

"Oh, you know…its part of my plan…to start a war…to bring peace…"

Knowing that the man before him could control the Kyuubi, wield time-space jutsu that far exceeded that of the Nidaime Hokage, and clearly had evil intentions, Minato decided to kill him before he became a greater threat than the Kyuubi. Minato stood, prepared to fight, a plan forming. "There no hope for any of you!" Madara jested as he charged his adversary, a chain, hooked to both wrists, trailing behind himself.

As the drew close, Madara phased through Minato's body, and the chain, upon reaching Minato, wrapped around him once Madara snapped his arms around in an attempt to stop Minato's movements. When Madara tried to rip the chain through the Hokage's torso, Minato activated his Hiraishin and teleported to the special kunai that he had used to arrive earlier, escaping the would-be fatal attack. That attack was enough for Minato to understand Madara's strategy as he glanced over his shoulder, eyeing Madara who returned the stare.

They dashed again, but this time, Minato was armed with another of his kunai. When they reached five feet from one another, Minato slung his kunai forward, watching as it phased through Madara's head. When the pommel was the last part to pass through him, Madara reached forward to grab a hold of Naruto's father as the man charged a Rasengan up in his right hand.

Madara briefly smiled as his hand connected with Minato's shoulder, before the man disappeared. He shouted in both surprise and agony when Minato suddenly appeared above him, and pushed the Rasengan into his back, shredding through the cloak and piercing the flesh as it drove Madara into the dirt. 'Damn it…he teleported to the kunai he just threw!' "That was the Hiraishin no Jutsu, Level Two," Minato boasted as he continued to force his chakra sphere into the rogue Uchiha.

Madara forced himself to use his phasing technique once more to slip away with a pained groan. When he put some distance between him and Minato, he realized that his left arm was dripping copious amounts of blood and was unable to be moved. And before he could anything else, a glaring Minato materialized before him, via Hiraishin, with a kunai in his left hand poised to gut Madara, and his right hand planting itself on Madara's torso. It was after that thought that Madara realized that Minato was implanting a seal on him and roared, "A contract seal? Are you trying to pull the Kyuubi from my control?"

"No," Minato retorted. "I already did! The Kyuubi is no longer your weapon!" At that moment, the severing of the control was completed and the Sharingan disappeared from the Kyuubi's eyes as he roared.

Madara escaped by teleporting to a mid level branch that looked down on the man who had stopped him and complimented, "You deserve the title of Yondaime Hokage…managing to wound me and wrest the fox from my control in one move. But someday it will be mine. The fox and this whole world, will bow to my will. Many doors are still left open to me." And just like that, Madara used his jutsu once more to disappear.

From his position on the forest floor, Minato glared at where the man had been standing. Something told him that the man wasn't lying, but he had other things to deal with at the moment. Like, for instance, the pissed off all-powerful Demon Lord that was wreaking havoc in his home. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" he cried out dramatically. With a large plume of smoke, the large toad, Gamabunta appeared with the Yondaime atop his head, landing directly on the fox's shoulders and subsequently driving the most powerful of the Bijuu into the earth. Unfortunately, the beast was in the middle of charging up one of its devastating chakra sphere blasts.

"HOLD DOWN THE FOX FOR JUST A MINUTE!" Minato yelled out to his long time partner.

"I may be big, but I'm not a miracle worker!" was the protesting reply.

"I need enough chakra to take him and that blast out of here!"

In a last ditch attempt to destroy everything, the fox swiveled its head around and lined its mouth in the direction of a tired and scraped up Sandaime Hokage whose eyes widened in fear as the fox prepared to detonate. He was saved a second later when Gamabunta landed on the ground with a resounding 'thud' as Minato used his Hiraishin to transport the fox and attack away from the village. "Minato…" Hiruzen tried to figure out what happened, "did he teleport himself and the Kyuubi?"

He was answered immediately when the fox's attack detonated over ten miles away.

With an incredibly loud rumble, the fox collapsed on the ground after its rather quick transfer. It took it a minute to figure out where it was at, and the only thing it could see of human construction were a small group of houses that it chose to smash with its paw. But unfortunately for the angry Bijuu, Minato was able to rescue his wife and son from certain death and held onto them as he appeared in a tree via the use of Shunshin. "Gotta put up a barrier…" Minato groaned as he began to feel the drain on his chakra from all of his quick movements, coupled with the oppressive aura that radiated from the beast.

"My chakra's almost drained…" Kushina mentioned, the bags under her eyes as pronounced as the tiny whisker marks that adorned their baby's cheeks. With a strained effort, Minato erected an intertwining cage like barrier that prevented the fox from escaping, and Kushina used what chakra she could spare to use the Uzumaki Clan's forbidden technique to produce chakra chains that wound around the fox and held it in place. The Kyuubi began to struggle against it's bindings, and roared angrily. It had just gotten out of that damn woman, it had important things to do and these ningen were getting in it's way!

Kushina then dropped to her hands and knees and began to tremble in her efforts to keep her once prisoner at bay, and, surprisingly, that much quieter thud was what woke Naruto into a ear piercing wail. In panic, Minato cried out to his wife, "Kushina!"

"Sorry Naruto…I didn't…" she huffed, ignoring her spouse in favor of looking at her vulpine baby for a few more minutes, "...mean to wake you…"

"Kushina…" Minato muttered, as he began to understand what his wife was thinking.

Now, she turned to him and confirmed his worst fear as she spoke, "I'll drag the Kyuubi…back…and die with it inside me…that'll…prevent it from coming back…for a while…it's the only way to save you both…with the little bit of chakra I have left. Thank you…for everything."

She finished speaking with a kilowatt smile that left Minato gasping in sadness, "Kushina…you…you made me your husband…you made me into the Yondaime Hokage…you made me this boy's father! And I…"

She cut him off from his rant as the baby in his arm cried out in discontent, "Don't look so sad…Minato. I'm…I'm happy. Happy that you loved me. Happy that it's…our son's…birthday-tte-bane…If I try to imagine surviving…and the three of us…living together…I can't think of anything…beyond, 'I'd be so happy.'" Try as he might, Minato could not stop the swelling tears from falling down his face as he too pictured the scene in his mind. "If I had any regrets…" Kushina stated as she looked at the newborn in his father's arms, "...they would be that I won't see Naruto grow up."

With a sigh, Minato wiped the tears from his eyes and spoke out, "Kushina…you don't need to take the fox down with you. We can use the last of our chakra to see Naruto one more time! I'll seal the last of your chakra in Naruto using the Hakke No Fuuin Shikki. Then I'll lead the fox away with a seal only a non-Jinchuuriki like me can use, the Shiki Fuuin!"

"But that…the user will be-"

He continued, "If Naruto wasn't an Uzumai, I would only be able to seal half the fox's power… But since our son was born with the Uzumaki kekkei genkai, I can seal all of it inside him. I can't let the Kyuubi be revived without a Jinchuuriki; the balance of Bijuu will be destroyed. But with the Shiki Fuuin I can permanently seal the fox's power into our son, and enough of our own for us to see him again." Minato looked down once more and noticed that Naruto had cried himself back to sleep and finished his train of thought concerning Naruto and the fox. "I'm so sorry, Naruto..."

Kushina looked like she was about to protest but Minato explained, "I know what you want to say…but Jiraiya-sensei spoke of the world undergoing a revolution, and with it, a great disaster! Tonight I've confirmed two things. The first is that masked man, the one who attacked you…he is the harbinger of that disaster! And Naruto will be the one to stop him. The Jinchuuriki who will blaze the trail to the future; I just…know it."

At this time, with his trusty companion Enma in his staff form, Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen landed in a crouch just outside the barrier that Minato used to protect the rest of the world from the fox's destructive capabilities.

Back in the barrier, Kushina watched as Naruto was laid on the ground and tried to protest again, but Minato merely flashed through the nine hand seals to mold his chakra to summon the Shinigami. As the spectral spirit eater materialized behind him, visible to only himself, he said with a smile, "Have a little faith! He is our son after all! After I finish the Shiki Fuuin, I'll place your remaining chakra into Naruto as well. You'll meet the grown up Naruto sooner than you think…the time will come when he'll attempt to take control of the fox's power…I want you there to help him."

"Our son…"

"That's why! I don't want him to bear such a heavy burden all on his own!" Minato retorted before sighing and looking down at the near helpless forms of his tired wife and sleeping child.

Kushina though, decided to argue the point anyways, now that Minato had finished his speech, "BUT WHY…WHY THE SHIKI FUUIN? There's no reason for you to die…just so I can see him for a few minutes when he's older. I wanted you to be there for him…I wanted you to raise him! Why…Why are you sacrificing _Naruto_just to preserve the balance of the Bijuu…to save the village…to save the country…Why are you sacrificing yourself for me?"

"Turning your back on the village, on the country, is just as bad as abandoning a child. You should understand…you saw your own country fall apart. You know the pain of growing up without a home of your own…and you know that we are a family…of shinobi!" Kushina would have likely argued, but settled for a glare as her spouse continued to try and justify what he was about to do, "Besides, even if I lived I could never be a substitute for you."

"…What…?"

"There are things Naruto needs to be told; things I could never say myself. That's the mother's job, and I need you to carry it out even if you only have the briefest of moment's to do so. This isn't just for you…this is for Naruto!" At this point he knelt down and picked up his baby once more and settled right in front of his wife. "Dying to make life better for his son…that's the stuff you let the father handle."

Understanding slowly began to manifest itself on her face, but Kushina tried so steel her eyes in a last ditch effort to go with her plan and save her son the life of many Jinchuuriki since the first ones of ages long past – a life of neglect and hatred. One she was one of the very few to have been lucky to have missed. But her husband would not be deterred and held the visage that struck fear into the hearts of many of Iwa's shinobi during the Third Great War.

From his position, Sarutobi was finally able to get a glance of something and in fear he gasped, "Those markings…it can't be…the Shiki Fuuin? ...We're too late!" he cried. "They've put up a barrier around the Kyuubi! Whatever they're doing, they're doing it alone!" With a cry, he tried to use his own chakra to force his way into the barrier and help the Namikaze family.

Now, the devourer of spirits was ready and thrust his hand through Minato's stomach from behind and out the front and grabbed onto the monstrosity that towered over him. The fox, unable to speak because of Kushina's chakra bindings, mentally cursed as it felt its power being ripped in two. "FUUIN!" Minato exclaimed, and the fox roared as it felt half of its life force, forcibly rent asunder from its body and pulled away, with no way to prevent it.

"It _is _the Shiki Fuuin! I can't believe he actually used it…" Sarutobi breathed in shock. It was the most powerful self sacrificial jutsu for a reason, but to see such a powerful sealing jutsu used against a Bijuu was breathtakingly scary.

"Now for the Eight Trigrams Seal!" Minato called out. "I'm going to seal the Kyuubi inside Naruto!"

A puff of smoke followed and a ritual style altar appeared. From its now shrunken size, the Kyuubi was able to recognize the altar as the ceremonial throne, and realized now that Minato was truly intent on sealing it within the blonde baby. It began to look hopeless for the beast but Kushina's chakra and strength began to fade as she started to wobble and be racked with searing coughs that in turn caused her control over the chakra chains to lessen just enough for the Kyuubi to try and counterattack the Yondaime and his wife.

"KUSHINA, STAY WITH ME!" Minato hollered as he quickly turned from the throne he had just laid Naruto on.

The Kyuubi raised its right forepaw in preparation to slam its paw down. However, its efforts were in vain as Minato was able to grab hold of his wife and threw himself in line with the demon's claw and used his own body to stop the claw from attacking his son, and Kushina was able to refocus enough to re-ensnare the beast once more, ensuring its unwilling stillness. The blood soaked claw stopped a mere three inches above Naruto's chin and the dying parents breathed a sigh of relief.

"If the father can do his job…" Minato said, trying to alleviate some stress.

Kushina picked up on it, and completed the thought, "Then the mother should be even better…right?"

Sarutobi, still outside the barrier, muttered in astonishment, "Is that their child?"

"They protected it!" a Jounin stated.

"_**DAMNED HUMANS!**_" the Kyuubi growled in indignation.

Ignoring the fox, Kushina glanced behind her where her husband was impaled on the claw directly behind her, as she sat on said claw and rasped, "You win…first argument…you've ever won…I guess…you're really serious…"

He chuckled, "Thank you, Kushina…" Working as quickly as he could, Minato quickly summoned a toad.

Said toad looked around and freaked, "AAH, THE KYUUBI! AND YONDAIME, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!"

"Gamatora, I'm entrusting you with the key to this seal," Minato spoke, forced to work fast as his life force waned. "Hurry to Jiraiya-sensei…store it within him…" With that, he plunged his hand into the toad's gut which cause a scroll to wrap around him and extend his height to that of a full grown man.

From his spot, Sarutobi finally pieced together the puzzle, "I see…Minato intends to save the village by making his son the new Jinchuuriki."

"GOT IT!" Gamatora proclaimed as the seal's key rolled up on the scroll. "GOOD…GOODBYE!"

"That does it…" Minato muttered as the toad disappeared to carry out its mission. "It's time for me to go Kushina…I'm going to perform the Eight Trigrams Seal…and try to leave a little of my own chakra in Naruto too! We don't have much time…if you have anything to say to Naruto…"

Kushina bowed her head in understanding, too tired to nod fully and huffed out with the last of her strength, "Naruto…Naruto…don't be a fussy eater…eat a lot and grow up to be a big boy! Take your bath everyday…go to bed early and sleep well! Make friends…it doesn't matter how many…just make sure they're real friends…people you can trust…even a few is enough! And study your ninjutsu…I was never very good at it, maybe you will be…everyone has things they're good and things they're not…don't feel bad if you can't do it all. Make sure to listen to your teachers…at the Academy."

"And remember to avoid the three vices of shinobi…don't borrow money if you can help it. Save what you earn from missions…no drinking alcohol until you're 20, and don't overdo it or you'll ruin your body. And as for women…well, I'm a woman so I don't know what to say, but there are only men and women in the world, so be nice to Mei-chan…she doesn't seem to be too weird…she's a lot like me. And the fourth warning…watch out for Jiraiya-sensei!"

She paused to smile as blood poured out of her mouth as it rose up from the pit of her stomach and spoke again with tears streaming down her face, "Naruto…you're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering…remember who you are! Find…a goal…a dream…and don't stop trying until it comes true…there's…there's…! There's…there's so much more I want to say…to teach you about…I want to stay with you…I love you…" Minato sighed but kept his mouth shut and Kushina realized, "I'm sorry Minato…I took all our time…"

"It's okay…" he supplied. "Naruto…this is your dad. Listen…to your motor mouth mother. Hakke Fuuin!" And thus Naruto, the legacy of the Uzumaki clan and Yondaime Hokage, became the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki. The infant's eyes briefly flashed purple before reverting back to their focused azure states.

* * *

**A/N: Naruto will have the basic powers of a Saiyan from the Dragon Ball Universe and a slightly different Rinnegan than Nagato had, but a Rinnegan all the same. Naruto will be with Shion and Anko. I haven't decided whether he'll have a harem or not.**


	2. Uchiha Massacre

**Chapter 2: Uchiha Massacre**

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**Chapter Notes: If anybody says that Naruto wanting to be Hokage is a weird jump in logic, like a certain _asshole _ascertained to in a review in 'Ascension of the Sage' I will tell you right now that this ideal didn't come to him overnight and he made the exact same jump in logic in cannon under similar circumstances but for vastly different reasons. Also, I'm perfectly aware of the fact that the Uchiha Massacre didn't occur on Naruto's birthday. And frankly I just don't give a damn. Also, this is the exact same chapter as the story I just deleted, but without Danzo taking over as Hokage since nobody seemed to like that. I thought it was an original idea for the man to actually achieve his goal, but I guess nobody else seemed to like the evil dude gaining that much power so early in the story. Whatever, I'm over it.**

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was not one to be trifled with. At the tender age of seven, he was already living on his own. The orphanage that he grew up in had thrown him out once he got his Academy acceptance letter. The manager of his former home, a horrible woman that neglected and bullied him, considered him already a shinobi, and therefore an adult in the eyes of the village. She kicked him out at the first opportunity, and there wasn't much that he could do. He didn't go to the Sandaime Hokage because the old man would likely just put him in another orphanage where things would repeat themselves.

After a few days of scavenging and begging for food, he'd came across the Ichiraku ramen stand where the father-daughter duo fed him as much as they could. Then they filed a complaint to the Hokage, who found an apartment complex for the child to stay at. It was a pretty run down place in the Redlight District, but it was the only place Naruto could afford with his monthly allowance from the Orphan Fund. The Sandaime couldn't show too much favor towards the child because the Elder Council demanded such, though Naruto didn't really know that.

The Redlight District was a dangerous place, especially at night. After being mugged once, Naruto never came out of his apartment after the sun went down ever again. The one exception was his birthday, which was today in fact. For some reason, people had decided to run after him, specifically targeting him. The people that once simply jeered at him or ignored his very presence had formed a mob and came after him. And his customary ANBU guard, Itachi Uchiha, was nowhere in sight.

Needless to say, it was nothing the child would ever forget. But the suspense of the chase and fear of being caught were totally eclipsed by the agony of capture. The pimps and whores, drug dealers and junkies, and various other thugs all beat the shit out of him. And through all the din, he heard something that somehow cut cleanly through the din of the crowd. "Die, demon!" But then it turned into a chant, as more and more people joined in the fun.

Why would they call him a demon? Was it because of his tail? He didn't think it was _that _big of a deal.

It took nearly ten minutes for the crowd to be sated of their spontaneous blood lust, and Naruto took all of their punishment. This moment would be forever imprinted into his mind, and he would one day get retribution on all of the people that participated. To do that, he would need power. And who was more powerful than the Hokage? Nobody; not a single person could challenge the leader of a military dictatorship. And so this dream, something he'd been thinking about for a long time, came to mind: to become the Hokage. With the authority and prestige that came with the position of power, Naruto would gain vengeance against all that wronged him.

That would, however, require living through the night though.

But before his very eyes, the injuries began fading away as if they never happened. And even stranger still, he felt almost twice as good as he did before. He felt strength fortifying his body that he never had before. He almost felt as if he had a pool of energy at his command now, even if he didn't know how he'd be able to use it. Though this was a strange occurrence, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

His golden hair was matted with filth, his tan skin covered in blood and sweat, and his arm twitched uncontrollably next to him. But his sharp blue eyes twinkled with an odd sense of amusement at his situation. Somehow, the idiotic villagers made him stronger than before and inspired him to live simply to destroy them later on. The irony wasn't lost on him. He even chuckled, though pain lanced through his chest at the action. There were still internal injuries that needed to be healed apparently.

His newly discovered healing factor aside, something was incredibly wrong with this village. He sighed, knowing that his surrogate grandfather definitely knew what it was and didn't want to tell him. It was okay though, because he'd find out on his own soon. And he'd fix the problem one way or another. Naruto noticed that his body was no longer broken and battered, so he stood up and was going to limp home but was stopped by the sight before him.

The Uchiha district, the quickest path home, was dark. The lamps were flickering, and strange lumps littered the streets. Liquid was pooling around the lumps even as Naruto watched, and a terrible feeling settled in his stomach as he came to the conclusion that they were corpses surrounded by blood. He would've probably felt sorry for the apparently massacred clan, had they not instigated most of the hatred towards him.

Then, walking out of a nearby shadow was one of Naruto's ANBU guards, Itachi Uchiha. The prodigy said, "Naruto, please forgive me for what I'm about to do. Prepare yourself." Before Naruto could reply, Itachi was already jumping into his mind, bringing Naruto with him. The suddenness of Itachi's approach, warning, and subsequent mental-kidnapping disoriented Naruto.  
_

They reappeared in what seemed to be sewers. Naruto looked around and was about to ask where they were, but Itachi, being the genius that he is, correctly guessed what he was about to ask, and said, "We are in your mindscape. I apologize for the life you led to have such a dreary place as a reflection of your inner sanctuary, but I had a part to play. You see, I had to wait until the opportune moment to strike against my clan for going against the Hokage. I had to act like a loyal Uchiha so they wouldn't suspect me. I love this village too much to let the Uchiha destroy the peaceful ideologies that are its foundation."

Naruto just looked at his guard and said, "Whatever you say. I've been living with those people for seven years and have yet to be treated like an actual goddamned human being by more people than I can count on one hand." Naruto's most prevalent exposure to language was by those that hated him, so naturally he picked up some… colorful vocabulary.

Itachi looked at the small child and said, "I know the only influence the village has had on your life has been negative, but I hope you can put the actions of the villagers behind you and not hold a grudge… though I wouldn't blame you if you did. Now, let's get rid of these seals and have a quick chat with your tenant."

"Tenant? Look, I don't know what the fuck's going on or why you're doing any of this…" the seven year old.

Itachi sighed and said, "There are multiple seals on your body to suppress chakra control, monitor your health and location, and even destroy you if you get too far out of hand. I can remove them all, though it will take time. While I'm doing that, I'll answer any questions you have about anything."

Naruto looked at the prodigy for a moment, sizing him up, before saying, "Alright, let's start from the beginning. Why do people hate me so much?" If he knew what he did to piss them off so much, maybe he could fix it.

"You, Naruto, are the son of Konoha's Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. His wife was known as Konoha's Crimson Death, Kushina Uzumaki." This made absolutely no sense to Naruto. He noted that Itachi just destroyed one of the seals earlier referred to. Naruto shivered, not wanting to know exactly what it did.

As Itachi got to work slowly destroying the seals with his eyes, Naruto began, "If I'm the son of two Kage level shinobi that died as heroes for the village, why am I mistreated by everyone? Why do they seem to think that I'm a demon? Why-"

"Your parents were married in secret," said Itachi, cutting him off midstream. Naruto just looked at the man before him with a raised eyebrow since that didn't answer any of his questions whatsoever. He didn't know where the Uchiha was going with this, but if it was all a joke… "Your father made many enemies during the Third Great Shinobi War, and they would do anything to end his clan. Not only that, but the Uzumaki clan was so feared that Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri all joined together to kill your people off." The seal for remote medical monitoring was soon destroyed.

Naruto gave a blank look at that, so Itachi continued, "Your birth was kept a secret for that exact reason. When they died, it was decided that your heredity should be hidden from the world to protect you from those same enemies." The first tracking seal was shattered.

Naruto seemed to understand. "Are their clan bloodlines why I heal so fast? And why I come back so much stronger from near-death experiences? And why-" but Itachi decided to end the chain of questions there, right when the second seal was removed.

"The Uzumaki kekkei genkai is actually one of the most powerful in the world. You'll find out what it does later when you talk to your tenant." Naruto didn't have a clue what any of that meant, but guessed he could find it out on his own sometime. "Tell me, do you know about the biju and jinchuriki?" asked Itachi with a stoic expression on his face. Naruto shook his head. Sighing, Itachi said, "The biju are nine large demonic constructs of chakra. A jinchuriki is a person with one of the biju sealed inside them to control their destructive power. You are a jinchuriki of the Kyuubi."

Naruto kept his mind from derailing too far by saying, "So everyone knows that I'm a jinchuriki? Why would they be so rude to me, just because I house the thing? Its not like I asked for it, or even knew! In fact, you just told me that I'm keeping the Kyuubi from being unleashed on the village! So WHY?"

"Because, when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha all those years ago… many people died. Your father, Minato, sealed it in you to protect them from its devastation and simply asked for them to treat you like a hero." At this point, Itachi was finished with destroying the seals and began walking through the mindscape, looking for something.

Itachi continued, "To them, you are the demon incarnate. Seeing you reminds them of the deaths of their families and friends, the destruction of their homes and businesses… and the loss of two of the villages greatest heroes." Itachi's face was blank as he approached an enormous cage. Naruto sat still. His face was hidden in shadow but his heartbeat reverberated through the space. Itachi nodded to Naruto and said, "I'll leave you to it," before disappearing from his mind.

A gigantic fox loomed over him with a grimace on its furry face, "**So… you're my newest jailor**."

Naruto frowned and said, "Apparently so." They quietly looked at each other in awkward silence. After a few minutes, Naruto said, "So what exactly am I doing in here?" as he gestured to the sewers around him.

"**This is your mindscape… it's a bit depressing if I do say so myself**," said the demonic fox. As he said this, a nearby dripping of water could be heard. Its arrhythmic beat gave Naruto a strange sense of dissonance.

Said blond sighed and replied, "Well I'm not sure how to go about fixing that so… is there any specific reason that I need to talk to you?" Another source of dripping started up nearby as the Kyuubi's laughter shook the chamber they were in.

"**I like how direct you are, mortal. ****Think of this as us getting to know each other. First impressions are very important, and so far you don't come off as quite as stupid as the average human. In fact, were it not for your potential power, I wouldn't even deign to talk to you**." The beast's voice held some amusement at its thinly veiled insult within a compliment.

Naruto's face remained blank as he said, "Well… that's nice of you to say."

The fox flashed a brilliant smile at its new host, saying, "**It seems that you have multiple kekkei genkai, yet you have yet to fully realize what they even are. With time you'll be able to use the Rinnegan, but it might be years before any Uzumaki abilities fully manifest in you**."

Naruto looked startled. "Rinnegan? What's that?" The kid's smirk reminded the fox of itself so it grinned.

The construct of chakra said, "**I'll explain it later, kid. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I will grant you access to a small amount of my chakra, but be warned: it will harm you since we aren't fully in sync yet. Also, I can train you for ten times as long inside your mind while you sleep**."

The blond had a blank look on his face and asked, "How?"

The fox reflected the smirk that was previously on its host's face and replied, "**There are multiple layers of consciousness within your mindscape. Why don't you follow me and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes**?" It smirked at Naruto as he nodded. "**Then follow me**!"

The fox turned and walked down one of the endless expanses of corridor in the sewer of a mindscape with Naruto trailing behind it. They walked for what felt like hours, going down stairwells and down steep inclines. Naruto asked, "What exactly is our destination?"

The Kyuubi turned to him and said, "**We're here**." Naruto looked around in confusion for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was special about this spot. The water seemed dirtier, the rust covered more surfaces, and fungus was beginning to form around them.

"What's so special about this dead end?" asked Naruto. This maze-like complex was starting to disorient him. When there was no answer, he just looked at Kyuubi expectantly, waiting for something to happen. Naruto looked closer at the supposed dead-end and gasped when he realized it was actually a door, covered in grime and muck. "What happens if I open this?" he asked his newest tenant. In response, the demon simply shook its head. He frowned and shrugged but pulled the door open anyway. Inside was a room made of the finest marble, with stained glass windows letting in a rainbow of sunlight. The small room contrasted the rest of his mindscape to such a degree that Naruto had to cover his eyes with his hand.

In the center of the room was a pedestal of ivory with a iridescent orb of bright blue glowing in the ethereal sunlight. The Kanji for 'Human Path' was drawn on the perfectly round stone in contrasting red. "What is this place?" asked Naruto in awe.

The fox smirked at the dumfounded look on its charge and said, "**This is the first part of your journey of self discovery. That is the first of the six paths. It can read minds**." It waited a few moments for the magnitude of its words to set in. The boy looked close to exploding from glee and excitement.

The ninja turned to the biju and asked, "Why did you bring me here? What's the purpose of any of this?" His voice was shaking with emotion.

"**If you take that orb in your possession, you'll be given access to the first path. In addition, your mind will finally consider you its master. You will able to bend reality to your will while within your mindscape. You could use your mental faculties for relaxation, entertainment, pleasure, or improvement. You could change this sewer into a beautiful forest and meadow for me to live in**…" The fox looked at its newest master with a pleading look in its eyes.

Naruto sighed and said, "Fine, I'll do this. Though you'll owe me big time." The fox's smirk was replaced with an actual smile. It's demonic appearance looked far less frightening and he could swear it was almost purring. The blond grinned and shook his head at the powerful transformation a single favor could cause to the demon.

He walked into the room with confident strides and grasped the orb. As soon as his hand touched the sphere, it began to glow brilliantly and was absorbed into the shinobi's skin. A sense of euphoria and completeness unlike any he'd ever felt enveloped his entire body. His skin, muscles, bones, and organs were thrumming with power.

Naruto turned in wonder to Kyuubi and asked, "What was that?" in a hushed tone. The world around them shifted into a beautiful meadow with a forest in the distance and the room they just visited looked like a tiny shrine.

"**You have unlocked your current potential. You are ready to begin training with me. Don't worry about time, since it passes by ten times slower from your perspective within each layer of consciousness**." Naruto nodded and grinned at this newest revelation. He looked about the peaceful meadow and noticed that there was a road leading from the meadow, through the forest, and up a mountain in the distance. There were seven shrines scattered about the road that most likely represented the paths.

Naruto turned and raced towards another gate, "Alright! Now let's go open the others-" but he was cut off.

"**No**!" The Kyuubi's roar shook the entire world. The grasses in the field and leaves of the trees in the forest swayed under the tremendous power released by the fox's warning. Naruto stopped in his tracks and turned around with a pale expression on his face.

"Why can't I unlock all of my other paths?" asked Naruto in a very quiet, defeated voice.

The demon took a deep breath and said, "**You aren't ready to open them yet. Trust me, I'll let you know when you are… just promise me you won't open those until I tell you that you're ready**?" The hints of concern in the fox's voice were noticed by the blond and he hung his head in shame.

"Yes sir," said Naruto.

A feral growl ripped out of the fox and he looked up in fear, into the ferocious eyes of the demon, "**I'm not a sir, I'm a LADY**!" Naruto was blown away by the sheer force behind her almighty bellows.

Once he got over the shock that Kyuubi was female and that she attacked him, Naruto rolled over and sheepishly got back up to his feet. He looked bashfully towards the ground and said, "I'm sorry Ms. Nine Tails, I won't ever make that mistake ever again."

Kyuubi replied, "**You're fucking right you won't fucking make that fucking mistake ever fucking again. Because if you fucking do, I'll fucking rape you, fucking kill you, rape your dead fucking body, then fucking eat you. AM I FUCKING UNDERSTOOD**?" Naruto audibly gulped and vigorously nodded his head. "**Good, now Its time for you to meet someone who's been here with me for a while… Oh, and call me Kurama**."

"And who might that be?" asked Naruto, after sighing in relief that the giant fox calmed down.

Two voices came from behind him, coughing anxiously. He turned around and saw an angelic red haired woman and a handsome blond man.

Naruto looked at them expectantly, and wasn't surprised when they started talking. The woman said, "Hello my little Naru-kun. Do you know who I am?" She looked familiar but he couldn't quite place her. At the slight shake of his head, she smiled sadly, "It can't be helped that you wouldn't recognize me. I'm Kushina Uzumaki, your mother." At the knowledge that his mother was standing before him, a single tear escaped the eye of the blond child.

"How could you two seal the strongest biju in and leave me alone in the world?" the child asked in a detached voice. "You didn't both need to die. Only one was necessary, yet you both decided to go out together. I've had a pretty shitty life because of those actions on your part... You know what, never mind. I don't care about you guys at all. I'm used to being alone… you can leave now."

Kushina's heart melted into the tears escaping her eyes as her son's pain became more evident, and Minato's face looked stricken as he said, "Naruto… I'm so sorry that we weren't there to raise and protect you," by now a few tears were escaping his bright blue eyes too, "Those damn villagers! My son, my beautiful baby boy… I've been dead for the past seven years yet living through you. I know the pain you've been in and how you've coped. Please let me explain everything before you decide to never see us again…"

Naruto scrunched up his face in anger and said, "Its obvious, isn't it? You two died sealing a demon into your own child for military purposes. Having a jinchuriki in the family makes loyalty practically an inevitability." The harsh words sounded so strange coming from such a young boy. His outlook on life was so cynical and skewed that even Danzo couldn't hold a flame to this child.

Kurama smirked as Minato's rebuttal came, "No that's not it! She was a jinchuriki too! When she was pregnant with you, the seal on Kyuubi weakened… We were attacked by a masked man who possessed the Sharingan. The man released her and put her under a powerful genjutsu to destroy Konoha. The only way to stop the destruction of the village was to seal it into you, Naruto. Kushina was close to dying and so was I, so we sealed ourselves into you as well. It took a while before you finally hit the emotional state required to tweak the seal enough to escape and help you…"

Their son had a blank look on his face. "Why me?" asked the innocent part of Naruto. "Why not anyone else?"

His father continued sadly, "A baby was needed to be the vessel because their chakra coils are still developing. I chose you because I believe that with my intelligence and fortitude, and your mother's determination and charisma, you could control the Kyuubi's chakra."

"And this whole time you've just been entrusting me with my legacy? A powerful demon and your genetic traits, which the odds of me perfectly inheriting would be astronomical?" asked Naruto emotionlessly. The two spirits looked uneasily at each other but nodded. Naruto's face remained blank as he looked at his parents, "Speaking of my genetics, could you guys tell me about my heritage?" At this, his parents' tears dried up and were replaced by hesitant smiles. They've got a long way to go before he'll forgive them, but they're on the right path at the moment.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about my side of the family much later on. You see, I grew up in an orphanage and didn't really know anything about my parents until after I became Hokage and looked up the records. My mother was Kimiko Namikaze, a kunoichi from a prominent clan in Kumo. And my father... was Nawaki Senju, the little brother to Tsunade of the Sannin. Nawaki was twelve years old when he died on the field of battle in the Second Great Shinobi War, which means that... well..."

Naruto nodded. He understood just how strange of a situation that was. He couldn't imagine being a father in five years. "Since I already know that the Senju have unparalleled abilities with chakra manipulation as their kekkei genkai, could you tell me about the Namikaze clan?"

Minato nodded unsurely and said, "The Namikazes were the founders of Kumogakure, similar in position there as the Senju are in Konoha. They were renowned for their angelic looks, incredibly bright spiritual energy, and amazing intellect," said Minato. "They have several taijutsu styles that rely on the nature manipulation of chakra similar to ninjutsu, thus inventing nintaijutsu. They invented the Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Armor) that was the favorite jutsu of the Sandaime Raikage. The Namikaze clan was unfortunately completely killed off during the Third Great Shinobi War, so you have no family there."

Naruto sighed at that and said, "Is there anything else I should know?"

Minato looked at him as if appraising him, before finally sighing and saying, "They had an alliance with Konoha's Uchiha clan where the two clans protected each other's interests with militant support. The Uchiha wanted to combine the clans since the Namikazes' bright spiritual energy countered their dark spiritual energy, but were refused on multiple occasions." At this point, his father hesitated but continued, "The Uchiha are the ones that killed off the rest of the Namikaze clan..."

Naruto shrugged indifferently to that, though his eyes flashed a dull metallic purple to show his anger before reverting back to their usual sharp cerulean. Minato nervously scratched the back of his head and said, "Now its Kushina's turn to tell you about her clan." Naruto didn't comment on the awkward topic change but turned his attention to his mother who was somewhat silent so far.

His mother awkwardly began, "The Uzumaki's were the founders of Uzushiogakure, or Uzu for short. We were renowned for our powerful fuinjutsu and taijutsu skills. Because of our kekkei genkai, we have nearly limitless stamina and chakra pools, advanced regenerative abilities, increased resilience to physical attacks higher than average pain tolerance, immunity to muscular atrophy, and increased skeletal density. There's also immunity to bacteria, germs, viruses, poisons, toxins, and contagions. You can survive in extreme temperatures and pressures, but have such an advanced metabolic rate that it borderlines nutritional entropy."

Then a thought suddenly flew into Minato's mind as he said, "Naruto, can I see your seal?" Naruto quickly nodded and walked over to his father's form. He pulled off his shirt and showed the glowing seal to his father, who smiled at what he was seeing.

"I was so worried that the demonic chakra would stunt your growth, but it appears that something has somehow made a more powerful seal than I initially intended to place on you." Kushina sent a withering glare at her husband, promising a scathing talking to when they were alone in the afterlife later.

Minato gulped and said, "Naruto, I think you should tell the Sandaime that you know that you're a Namikaze. He will give you access to Namikaze Manor on the outskirts of the village. You can train there on our private training grounds and study in our secret library for as long as you wish. Good luck son, I'm sorry we weren't around for your childhood. Our time is up. We're leaving now..." Naruto nodded, still feeling numb to the presence of his parents, before he left his mindscape.

Back in reality, Itachi was standing next to him and said, "I will stay with you at the Namikaze Manor. But, I have to stay hidden because what I've done is highly illegal. I'll go there now, but I'll need a drop of your blood to enter the compound." Naruto nodded and let the Uchiha prick his finger with a kunai before the genius disappeared in a swirl of leaves, and Naruto ran off to the Hokage tower to relay the _wonderful_ news. He wouldn't tell about his parents sealed inside him, but he could at least claim his inheritance.  
_

"Ahh, Naruto. How can I help you today?" asked the Sandaime Hokage. Hiruzen looked intently at the young child who just turned seven. The boy looked at him with his sapphire eyes twinkling mischievously and golden hair flowing gently from the breeze of the open window.

"I know who my father is, old man. I would like to stake a claim to the Namikaze name and everything that entails," said Naruto with a lilt to his voice, as if hoping that the old man would deny him. The blue fire in the kid's eyes actually made him nervous, despite being renowned as the God of All Shinobi. Hiruzen gulped and nodded his head while pulling a letter out of his desk.

"This is the letter I was going to give you the day you became a chunin or eighteen years of age. Since you already know your parentage, I'll just give it to you now," said the Hokage. He looked pleadingly at the boy before him and said, "You must understand, I didn't tell you because I thought you might not be…" He was about to say 'able to handle it' but something told him that wouldn't be a smart thing to admit to the child at this precise moment.

Before he could come up with something to say, Naruto said, "I don't care why you didn't tell me, its inconsequential to me. I just want to be able to live in a peaceful environment that keeps me safe from the deplorable zealots that call themselves 'human beings' that inhabit this horrible village. No, I want to go at least one day without having to wonder whether I'll be able to eat food or escape the violent plebeians."

Hiruzen and the four ANBU on the ceiling stared wide eyed at the child before them. "Naruto… where did you learn words like that?" asked the Hokage. The child was leaking massive amounts of killing intent, enough that his ANBU guard decided to reveal themselves. The child looked mildly uninterested with their sudden appearance, took the letter, and began to leave the room.

He looked over his shoulder and said, "Hiruzen Sarutobi… even you should know that I've had to age faster than normal to survive on the streets of this 'civilized' village. This is simply how I've adapted to my surroundings. _Clearly_ the magnitude of my situation isn't lost on you. Oh, and you might want to check on the Uchiha District..." And with that, Naruto exited the room with a cold nothingness replacing the flames that only moments earlier threatened the Hokage's sanity.

'How much does he know? I guess it doesn't matter. Now that he knows, the truth is bound to come out sooner or later. I'd rather be the one telling the council of his heritage than him during one of his pranks' thought Hiruzen. He sighed and turned to the ANBU closest to him, saying, "Dog, I need you to notify all council members that a priority meeting will be held in ten minutes. Oh, and check out the Uchiha District. I have a feeling something important is there." With a silent nod, the ninja quickly used shunshin to disappear, his silvery spiked hair catching the moonlight.

Hiruzen sighed, 'This is gonna be a long night.'  
_

The council room was alive with chatter. There hadn't been a priority meeting since the Hyuga Affair two years earlier, when a team of Kumo jonin attempted to kidnap the heiress of the Hyuga clan, Hinata Hyuga, in order to steal the kekkei genkai Byakugan from Konoha. Fortunately, the 'demon brat' used his 'evil powers' to kill her kidnappers and rescue her from a terrible fate in a breeding program.

The heads of the ten present shinobi clans weren't partaking in gossip as much as the eleven civilian clan heads were, but they weren't above speculating about what this meeting could be about. They were curious where Fugaku Uchiha was, but decided it didn't really matter. Nobody could stand his arrogance.

Many thought it could be about the revolution beginning in Kirigakure or the recent formation of Otogakure. The Hokage's three advisors, Koharu, Homura, and Danzo, were all seated near the elevated chair of the village's leader, despite its vacancy.

Suddenly barging through the doors was the old man himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had a troubled look on his face as he took his seat. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Alright. Now I know you're all wondering why I brought you all here," this was met with nods by everyone except the Nara clan head, who was lightly snoring.

Chuckling at their strategic mastermind's laid back attitude, Hiruzen continued, "It has to do with Naruto Uzumaki." He would've continued but the civilian half of the room started speaking up a frenzy about demons and whatnot. He sighed and continued, "He has discovered who his parents really were and wants to make claim on their name."

This was met with confused silence. Before anyone could ask who the kid's parents were or why they even mattered, he decided to cut right to the chase, "His father was Minato Namikaze and his mother was Kushina Uzumaki. This not only makes Naruto the son of two Kage level shinobi, but also the sole beneficiary of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans' respective estates. He is now one of the wealthiest people on the planet."

The tension in the room was getting thicker and thicker, so much so that raiton or futon chakra would be needed to cut through it. Right before the inevitable explosion, he continued, "He will need to constantly be guarded and trained to cope with the pressures from his father's enemies from Iwagakure. He will have a small contingent of ANBU watching him at all times. I believe the best choices for his guards are: Anko Mitarashi, Kakashi Hatake, Miteo Gai, Kurenai Yuhi, Hana Inuzuka, and Yugao Uzuki."

There were several nods of agreement, even from Danzo. 'I guess having a wealthy celebrity jinchuriki with enormous potential is affecting even that war hawk bastard,' thought the Sarutobi. "I have taken the initiative to notify the child's godparents that they may now take custody of him. However, it is difficult to locate them since they are constantly on the move. My students, Jiraiya and Tsunade will arrive in Konoha as soon as they are found and move in with Naruto at Namikaze Manor. That is all-"

"I think Naruto falls under the jurisdiction of the Clan Restoration Act," said the war hawk bastard Danzo with a familiar gleam in his eyes. Most other people looked up in confusion, so he elaborated, "The Namikaze and Uzumaki clans were world renowned when in their prime, due to their inherent affinities for nintaijutsu and powerful bodies respectively." Now many people understood and got the same gleam in their eyes.

The Hokage frowned but couldn't argue against it and said, "Fine, though try and justify giving the boy a harem to Tsunade…" The greedy shimmers in several people's eyes dulled at the prospect of potentially pissing off the Slug Princess. Hiruzen smiled and said, "Now I think that concludes our meeting-"

An ANBU quickly entered the room and said, "Lord Hokage! The Uchiha clan has been massacred, and all of their eyes removed. The only members who weren't killed are Mikoto Uchiha and her son Sasuke. They told us that Itachi did it!" Hiruzen's eyes widened, but then they narrowed as they were redirected towards the old War Hawk. They would be talking after the council meeting was finished.

"This is horrible," said Tsume Inuzuka. "How could something like this happen in the middle of the village?"

"What are we going to do about this?" asked Hiashi Hyuuga. "While I disliked the Uchiha clan, Fugaku in particular, they didn't deserve this. We need to act now! Assemble the police force..." As the words left his mouth, everybody realized that without the Uchiha clan, they had no police force.

Shikaku Naru pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "For now I suggest sending ANBU out after Itachi, and medic ninja to collect the bodies. We can worry about reforming the police force later..."  
_

Naruto was standing in the middle of the yard behind his new mansion, staring coldly at the enormous hybrid jungle gym and obstacle course that was proving to be fairly easy for him to traverse. He seemed to be better at chakra control than the average child his age, yet he wasn't a prodigy. It wasn't perfect, but it was still amazing nonetheless. He was now trying to run up vertical inclines.

Naruto was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't even notice the sudden appearance of six people behind him. The moon was now high in the sky and his birthday was officially over, but he had so much energy at the moment! And why shouldn't he? He just found out so many secrets tonight. The six ANBU watched the seven year old with intrigue, despite the events of the night. The child's inherent ability with chakra control was stunning. They were quite frankly shocked when he showed that he could stick to walls with his feet using chakra, even if it was only for a few seconds. Kakashi brought a hand up to his mouth and made a chuckling cough noise to bring attention to himself and his colleagues.

Naruto froze when he heard the sounds behind him and slowly turned to see a beautiful woman with long purple hair, a ridiculously muscular guy with a black bowl cut, a lean youth with a stoic expression on his face, and a vaguely familiar man with spiky silver hair. Naruto gulped and said, "So… how long have you been standing there?"

Gai was smiling winningly at the back of the blond's head, all the while internally screaming about how his Flames of Youth were being outshone by the creative fuel of Naruto's imagination. 'He reminds me of a younger version of myself, albeit a blond haired, blue eyed, and tan skinned orphan… I will protect him with my life,' thought the Green Beast. He already knew that he'd get along with the boy swimmingly, because he was Miteo Gai, and he could befriend anyone!

Anko was reminded of herself when she saw the boy. He was an outcast, just like her. 'Of course, he's the demon brat and I'm the snake whore… Just a bunch of misfits…'

Itachi quietly watched the boy from the shadows as the blond continued running around on the jungle gym. 'His skill is pretty good for somebody who hasn't even gone to the academy yet. I wonder how strong he'll be in his prime?' thought the Uchiha Genius. He felt intense sorrow that Naruto had to go through so much in his short life yet was secretly relieved that the same horrors weren't forced on his younger brother.

Neither Hana, Kurenai, or Yugao knew what to think of the boy before them. He didn't seem demonic or satanic or evil in any way, shape, or form. He looked like an ordinary boy to her. Albeit a malnourished boy that had potential to become quite the looker, but a normal boy all the same.

Kakashi gave an eye-smile but was secretly reeling on the inside. Immense guilt filled him as he thought about his sensai's son and how his life went so far. 'For now on, this child will never again have to worry about his safety. Do you hear me Minato? I will atone for my actions, or lack thereof, in the past seven years. And Obito, if you're up there too, just know that this kid will not be abandoned like I abandoned you…' He sighed, the only of the four to make a noise in response to Naruto's quirky behavior.

Kakashi chuckled and said, "Not very long," nonchalantly. He smiled and continued, "We're here to protect you from anything. Though I think you should get some sleep, you need to rest at such a young age." Upon seeing the look on Naruto's face, Kakashi continued, "You'll grow faster if you sleep when you're supposed to!" That did the trick. The kid happily bounded into the manor with the small squad of personal bodyguards in hot pursuit.

'This should be interesting,' thought all six ANBU and the hiding Itachi. It didn't take long to get the kid in bed, fast asleep.


	3. Orientation Day

**Chapter 3: Orientation Day**

* * *

**Side Notes: ****How is it that Sasuke is actually slightly older than Naruto? Didn't Naruto fail the graduation exam two years in a row before finally beating the shit out of Mizuki and getting a field promotion? If that's the case, then how is Naruto in the same graduating class as Sasuke? By all means, shouldn't Sasuke and him technically be older than Neji, Tenten, and Lee by a year if this is true? Wouldn't Naruto have met them before the disastrous Chunin Exams if he failed twice, forcing him to spend an entire year in a classroom with them? Yet I've seen Naruto and Sasuke starting off in the same class in a few scenes, along with the rest of the Rookie Nine, and I can't really see everyone failing alongside Naruto for them all to stick together... Sorry, but that's a pretty huge plot hole in my opinion.****In this story, for the purposes of logic, Naruto is simply starting off in the same class as the Rookie Nine; he hasn't failed any graduation exams, and won't be failing any either.****That is all, carry on reading.**

**Chapter Notes: This chapter will officially make the story a slight alternate universe (aside from the Uzumaki being derived from a Saiyan), because I changed the history a little bit. Well, _technically _my idea could potentially be possible cannonical facts later on, but I highly doubt the probability of something so oddly specific turning out to be true. **

* * *

"Since you're now Naruto's legal guardian, Jiraiya, does that mean you're going to be checking up on Naruto?" asked the Sandaime Hokage, his face carefully blank.

The Gama Sannin sighed and replied, "You know I would've gone to him much earlier if that council hadn't thrown a bitch fit. But now that I can see him... I'm almost scared to. I mean, I haven't been able to play an active role in his life other than occasionally chipping in some extra cash with his monthly allowance that he wasn't even aware of. And now I'm supposed to just show up out of nowhere and be like, 'Hey, I'm your godfather. Sorry for not being in your life, but I was wallowing in the sadness of losing my apprentice who was like a son to me, after he sealed a giant evil demon into your gut. By the time I got my head out of my ass, the council forbade me from meeting with you because apparently my spy network was more important to them than your well being.' Yeah, that'd go real well."

Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed and said, "The sole reason for you returning to the village was catching a glimpse of Naruto on his birthday, yet you aren't capable of even introducing yourself to him? Look, I can't tell you what to do but the boy is now your responsibility. He is no longer able to receive monthly payments from the Orphan Fund because he now technically has guardians. You have to at least provide him with enough money for groceries and utilities."

Jiraiya nodded and replied, "I certainly plan on doing that, but before I meet him, I'd like to find Tsunade so the both of us can greet him at the same time. I feel as if it'd be better for him to get his anger out at both of us in quick succession, rather than making him wait and build up more negative emotions towards one or the other. Though, I'm not sure how Tsunade will react to a summons back to Konoha..."

The Sandaime Hokage frowned sadly and said, "If you can't convince her, tell her that taking care of Naruto is a direct order from me. Should she choose not to comply, she'll be charged with treason and treated as a missing-nin in our bingo books. That should get her to come back. How long do you think it'll be before you can find her?"

"It may take a month or two to find her, and I'll give her at least a week to think it over before I threaten her with direct orders. I want her to come of her own free will..."  
_

"Okay, Kurama, what exactly are you going to be training me in?" asked Naruto skeptically.

The giant fox smirked and said, "**As a reward for letting me roam around your mindscape, I'm going to teach you about the fundamentals of chakra. Chakra is the energy that shinobi and samurai use to fuel their techniques and fortify their bodies**."

"I already knew that, you condescending fox. I also know that you know everything that I know, which means that you knew that I knew."

"**That's quite a mouthful, and I'm not even really sure what you just said**," said Kyuubi with rolled eyes. "**Anyway, chakra is made up equally of physical and spiritual energy, known as ki and reiryoku respectively. Now, the Uzumaki kekkei genkai provides you with an obscene amount of ki, but it doesn't affect reiryoku.**"

"What exactly constitutes an 'obscene amount of ki'? Could you maybe put it into terms that I could actually understand?"

"**... Whatever, you weird, _weird_ human. I'm just going to use a simile. If your ki was likened to an ocean of energy, reiryoku would practically be a glass of water in comparison. This imbalance makes your chakra relatively unstable and difficult to control, but chakra control is important. There are two ways for you to overcome this obstacle: you can either gain better control over your ki, or try to increase your reiryoku. I'd prefer you doing both, but those are the only two options for you at the moment**," replied Kurama.

"So how would I go about doing that?" asked Naruto with a slight tilt to his head.

"**You, little mortal, are special. As I've already told you, you are the first true possesser of the Rinnegan, the most exalted of all dojutsu, in nearly six hundred years. The last person to have those eyes was the mythical Rikkudo Sennin, the founder of modern ninjutsu and creator of all nine biju. He also made the moon and sired the Uchiha and Senju clans of Konoha but that's beside the point. There are many abilities associated with those eyes, but you aren't ready to use most of them yet**."

"What am I ready to use then, you bossy fox?"

Kurama growled and said, "**You impertinent human! I'm helping you tap into the almost unlimited hidden potential that you were inherently born with, yet you keep belittling me! Do you realize that I could be sabotaging your growth physically and mentally? I could be ruining your chakra network or filling you with suicidal thoughts, trying to take over your body for my own uses, or even escape altogether? But no, you have to keep questioning me!**"

Blinking, Naruto replied, "You know, you're nothing like I expected you to be. I've heard stories of you slaughtering innocents, causing earthquakes and tsunamis with a single flick of your tail... and yet, you're just a big fluffy furball. I expected you to be a psychopathic monster, but you're trying to help me out. In fact, I'd _almost _suspect you of foul play. What are you hiding, furry-chan?"

With a twitching eye, Kurama exploded, "**You've already heard about the night I supposedly attacked! I was held against my will under a powerful genjutsu, forced to do horrible things... mind you, I don't care about the acts themselves, just that I wasn't in control. I'd much rather be inside this damned seal than out there to be used as a toy by one of those damned Uchiha. Yet you could also be ensnared in a genjutsu, or even killed. And then where would I be? I'd die with you! Of course I'd simply reincarnate at a later date, but death is still an unpleasant prospect even for me!**"

Naruto coughed and said, "Sorry. I didn't know." The giant incarcerated fox snarled but nodded her head in acceptance. "Anyways, what am I ready to use, you adorable furball?"

"**I will not be belittled by a mere human being. That being said, the Rinnegan gives you varying degrees of control over the energies in your body. If you activate the very first level, you will better understand how to harness ki and reiryoku without forming chakra**," said Kurama.

"How do you know so much about the Rinnegan?" asked Naruto, his tail following the tilting movement of his head to signify his curiosity.

"**When I was formed by the Rikkudo Sennin, some of his memories were implanted into me as the seed for my cognitive abilities. I know a lot about the powers of the Rinnegan in particular because of it, which is why being ensnared by a lesser derivative, the Sharingan, is highly embarrassing. I will give you more knowledge when I deem it appropriate**."

Nodding, Naruto said, "Okay, I can deal with that. So... how exactly do I go about activating the Rinnegan?"

"**Due to your ancestry, it has been trying to activate for some time now, possibly since the day of your birth. Occasionally your eyes would flash the metallic violet of the Rinnegan, but would always revert to their natural color. Since Itachi-kun, the only Uchiha I don't feel the automatic urge to kill on sight, released the seals holding it back, it has surfaced**."

"Itachi-_kun_? I didn't know you could show affection to simple humans..." The fox rumbled in protest but he continued on, "He mentioned seals to me, and he even specified what the purpose of them all were. If a seal was on me that stopped my Rinnegan from forming, wouldn't that mean that somebody knew that I had the potential to awaken it and placed a preventative measure on me? If so, would you know who it was and how they knew?"

"**That's a lot of baseless speculation, especially since you never gave me a window to answer, you impatient brat. This will be difficult to explain, but bear with me. The Rikkudo Sennin knew that his offspring would likely have similar abilities as him, and he saw how they rivaled and fought with each other. So he placed blood seals on his two sons, the ancestors of the future Uchiha and Senju clans respectively**," replied Kurama.

"What did the seal do?" asked Naruto inquisitively.

"**It was a Yin-Yang seal, storing Yin in the Uchiha and Yang in the Senju. That seal would be stored in their genetic code and passed along to all of his descendants, on both the Uchiha and Senju sides, mutating every time that it replicated, further distancing the ability to awaken the Rinnegan. However, combining the blood would help restore the blood seal back to its original form so that, when his descendants finally stopped their petty quarrels and came together, one person would eventually be able to awaken the Rinnegan and usher in a new era of peace. That was the general idea anyways**."

"So I have Senju and Uchiha blood in me?" asked Naruto. It was annoying how many questions he needed to ask, but they were necessary.

"**It would seem so. However, there are other branches of the two clans that would have been required for you to have the proper seal sequence. The Senju branched off into the Sarutobi clan and the Uzumaki clan, while the Uchiha created the Hyuuga and Kurama clans. Somehow, you must have Senju, Sarutobi, Uzumaki, Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Kurama clan ancestors. You already had all the genetic 'fragments' if you will, you just had your potential repressed by external seals**."

"It does make me wonder about my family tree," muttered Naruto.

**"I don't know the specifics behind your genealogy, but I bet that's why Minato and Kushina became as feared as they were on the battlefields; with that kind of pedigree, it was inevitable. And since you have all six...**" said Kurama, trailing off dramatically.

"...I think I'll try to look it up later on, but for now we need to focus on activating my Rinnegan."

Kurama smacked herself, "**That's right! Sorry for the random tangential lesson, but it was necessary. This will take a very traumatic experience to unlock, like a near death situation or seeing a loved one in mortal peril... but since you don't have any loved ones other than the motherfucking Hokage, I doubt that will ever happen. So that just leaves you having to almost die again.**"

Naruto sighed, "Why did Itachi have to free me from my bindings _after_ the murderous crowd beat the shit out of me? And for that matter, how did a conversation about chakra control become a history lesson?"

Smiling evilly, Kurama replied, "**You can work on that near death experience later. For now, you've got to wake up. It is the first day of the Academy, after all...**"  
_

Naruto quickly got ready for the day; showering, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, and running out of the mansion for the city. Today would be his first day at the academy, and he needed to become a shinobi. Not to protect anybody in the village, or out of any sense of nationalistic loyalty; no, he needed to become a shinobi because nobody would ever hire him at any civilian jobs. He was feared and hated because of what he contained. Would he even be able to get an interview?

"No, definitely not," he said to himself quietly.

Of course, he could ask the Ichiraku family for a position at their ramen stand, but his prolonged presence would likely be detrimental to their business. He didn't want to hurt the livelihood of the only people in the entire village that seemed to actually enjoy his presence. Plus he had a major crush on Ayame. The cute ramen waitress often rubbed his tail when he ate her food. He liked having his tail rubbed. It was the most blissful experience ever.

But never _ever_ squeezed. Grabbing his tail was akin to committing suicide. That was just one of the few things that Naruto would absolutely not tolerate.

He sighed as he ran through the crowded early morning streets, glancing around for anybody following him. Luckily, nobody seemed to care enough to do so, though he was falling victim to an increasing number of angry glares. This village, while aesthetically appealing, was not his cup of tea. Yes, it was actually a rather breathtaking place; sweeping gabled roofs, round columns, curtain walls and door panels, random lily ponds, circular doorways, and towers that looked like multiple colorful huts stacked on top of each other dotted the village.

He saw several shinobi flit across the rooftops, their forms blurs to his untrained eye. Still, the fact that he could even see them at all was fairly impressive. Few civilians even noticed when the ninja hopped effortlessly around the village above their heads. It would almost be funny, but the throngs of hostile villagers really ruined the view.

He could hear people whispering to each other about his tail and whiskers, mentioning how he must be a demon because of them. They couldn't actually mention the fact that he was a jinchuriki in public; the decree laid down by the Sandaime Hokage made such an act punishable by death in the hopes of letting the younger generation get to know him.

His tail twitched in annoyance at the very notion.

Before long, he was in the Academy and walking to his assigned room. He was the first to enter, and made his way to the center of the back so he could have a clear vantage point of the room and not get sneaked up on. As he watched, other students began trickling into the room. Nobody spared him a second glance, though no one seemed to be glaring at him either. That seemed to be a good start. There were nearly thirty kids in the room, but there were six clan heirs in the room. They were who caught Naruto's attention the most. They were the most likely to pass given their pedigrees and inevitable outside training.

And they were all in a small pack together, shutting off all the civilian-bred children. It wasn't intentional, just that these six all grew up together. Shikamaru Nara had promptly placed his head gently on his desk and began snoozing, Choji Akimichimi was eating out of what appeared to be a bottomless bag of chips, Kiba Inuzuka was whining about wanting to get his ninken (Ninja Dog) pairing, and Shino Aburame was _buzzing_. Looking past them, he saw Ino Yamanaka talking gossip about every single person in the room, despite having never met a single one before; she must've had a spy network or something to come up with such information. Hinata Hyuuga was quietly listening to the insane ranting of the blonde heiress with a dazed expression on her face.

At that moment, a civilian girl entered the room, and his heart practically stopped. The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen was nervously looking for a place to sit. Naruto admired her shoulder length pink hair and sparkling green eyes from the other side of the room, and was about to invite her to sit with him when Ino called out, "Oh, Sakura! I see that red ribbon suits you after all." The pinkette smiled and sat next to the Yamanaka, causing annoyed mutterings to come up from the remaining ostracized civilian kids.

The blond jinchuriki continued to watch Sakura out of the corners of his eyes, feeling a strange warmth spreading through his chest just at the sight of her. Was this love at first sight?

His thoughts were ended when the very last student walked in quietly, and almost everybody shut up immediately. The dark haired, dark eyed boy didn't seem to notice as he sat down alone in the front row. Some murmuring started up, and Naruto could hear some of it clearly.

"Hey, that's Sasuke Uchiha."

"I hear he's the last of the Uchiha."

"What happened to the rest of his clan?"

"Some nutjob massacred them all last night."

"I heard it was his older brother."

"What was his name? Itachi or something like that?"

"I heard Itachi Uchiha was a prodigy even among the rest of the Uchiha."

Sakura and Ino started swooning over the boy as soon as they saw him. At first he was jealous of the Last Uchiha, but as Naruto watched, the two girls began arguing over who should ask him out first, which evolved into who was better, which devolved into offensive comments on each other's appearances. All in the space of about a minute. In tears, Sakura ripped the ribbon off her head and threw it at Ino and the two refused to talk to each other again.

He no longer found Sakura attractive.

In fact, his attention was brought to the one girl in the class that seemed unaffected by the Uchiha's presence: Hinata Hyuuga. She was adorably shy, and had a cute look about her that drew his eye.

At that moment, the teacher entered the room. "Hello, I'm Iruka Umino, your sensai for the next four years. Normally you would have a different teacher every year, but this is the start of a new program where a single instructor will follow the entire class until your graduation year. Now I'm going to tell you basically what we'll be covering over the next few years. This first year, we're going to go over background information that will be useful in the field such as history, geography, and politics. The second year will be the beginnings of theoretical knowledge on physics, chemistry, and chakra manipulation. The third year will be filled with physical training, learning group dynamics, and nutritional dieting as well as reviews for everything learned thus far. The fourth and final year will be filled with spars, weapon practices, learning basic ninjutsu, specializing your roles in teams, and mission exercises."

"Troublesome," muttered someone. Iruka looked annoyed.

"Well, today was simply the orientation day. After lunch, you're free to go home and prepare for class tomorrow," said Iruka, ignoring the previous comment on his teaching plan. "I suggest you all get to know each other today, since you'll all be together for four more years."  
_

A few hours later, Naruto finally returned to the Namikaze Manor. Since the Academy was let out early, he was planning on spending the rest of the day exploring his new home. However, six ANBU appeared before him. The same six, in fact, that were now his personal bodyguards. "Hey squirt," said one of the females, a woman with short purple hair. "Since I don't feel like playing by the rules," she began as she pulled her mask off, "-I won't be needing this anymore!"

Another of the female ANBU, who also had purple hair though her's was far longer, said, "Hebi! You aren't supposed to reveal-"

"I'm Anko Mitarashi. This is Yugao Uzuki, Kurenai Yuhi, Hana Inuzuka, Miteo Gai, and Kakashi Hatake. We are your personal guards," she continued happily. The others grumbled with annoyance and removed their masks.

"Well it's nice to meet you all... again..." he said awkwardly. He met them all last night, he just hadn't been told their names or seen their faces. "Isn't it unprofessional for ANBU to reveal their identities while on the job?" asked the blond, his tail wrapping around his waist to show his confusion.

The one that reprimanded Anko just before she managed to divulge all of their identities, Yugao, frowned and said, "Yes it is, but what's done is done. Well I guess we should all introduce ourselves properly now that _Hebi _has gone and screwed everything up. My name is Yugao Uzuki and I'm twenty one years old. I'm currently dating Hayate-kun, and specialize in kenjutsu. I'm an orphan just like you."

Naruto's azure gaze cut into her very soul and he said, "Since I already know your names, that seems a bit redundant. Why don't we skip that in the future?" Yugao felt herself deflate at being told off by a seven year old. Anko openly laughed at her.

"Alright, my turn!" yelled Anko happily. "I typically work in the Interrogation and Torture department as a tokubetsu jonin. This is my first assignment in ANBU, and so far it's gone pretty swell. I enjoy dango, sake, killing, and fucking! Preferably all at once-"

"Anko!" shrieked Kurenai in outrage, "He's only seven years old!" Standing four feet away from them, Kakashi slowly closed his orange book and surreptitiously placed it back in his kunai pouch.

Naruto's tail bristled and his eyes briefly flashed metallic purple as he turned to her, "And I lived in the Redlight District for an entire year by myself! Honestly I used to share walls with a whore that kept me up at all hours of the night because of the never ending squeaking of her mattress and groans of pleasure. I may be seven, but I've not been innocent for a long fucking time."

Kurenai was frozen in the middle of a wild gesticulation, which was originally shock at Anko's language, but was now comically transferred to him. Then her eyes narrowed and she said, "Do I have to wash both your mouths out with soap?" She quickly went through a few handseals and placed both Anko and Naruto in a powerful genjutsu forcing soap into their every orifice.

Both of them started gagging on imaginary soap and clutching each other for support, before Gai shouted, "DON'T WORRY MY CHARGE AND COLLEAGUE! I, KONOHA'S BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST MITEO GAI, WILL SAVE YOU FROM THE GENJUTSU MISTRESS'S ILLUSION!" He then proceeded to helicopter kick both of them in the face, sending them into the ground. Or at least, Anko landed on the ground. Naruto landed on top of her, his head using her natural cushioning to soften the landing.

Yugao sighed and said, "Gai, you shouldn't kick people to break them out of a genjutsu. All you needed to do was disrupt the flow of chakra in their networks..." Kurenai was staring at the mess she was a part of, seemingly paralyzed with disbelief that she caused Naruto and Anko to end up in such a compromising position. She hated perverts, yet she caused this situation in the first place.

"Besides," began Hana, "-I don't think you're supposed to harm the person we're charged with protecting from any and all forms of harm. That just seems a little counterproductive." She looked pointedly at Kurenai and said, "That includes casting genjutsus on them." Nodding dumbly, Kurenai sat on a nearby rock to ponder why she overreacted so much.

From the ground, Anko said, "I don't particularly mind getting a little roughed up. What about you, Naruto?"

Without lifting his head from her bountiful assets, Naruto groaned, "I feel like someone pushed me off the Hokage Mountain then dropped a boulder on top of me... Of course, Kurenai missed the whole point of what I was saying as soon as she heard a single curse word..." He trailed off when Anko began stroking his tail. His eyes grew half lidded and he purred in the back of his throat. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the entranced blond.

"Did he just-" began Hana.

"-Purr?" finished Yugao.

All four badass kunoichi suddenly got hearts in their eyes as they exclaimed, "KAWAII!" They all glomped the boy, not that he particularly minded.

Kakashi coughed and said, "So as you know, my name is Kakashi." Nobody seemed to be listening but he continued regardless, "I'm a ninjutsu specialist. My likes... well, I don't feel like telling you what those are. My dislikes are equally as private, and I have no dreams for the future."

At that precise moment, Naruto raised his head and said, "You say something Kakashi?" Once those words were out of the blond's mouth, every single person stopped what they were doing and stared between the two. Kakashi felt the strange need to fist-pump. However, good feelings were never meant to last long around Konoha's resident cyclops, as Gai appeared out of nowhere and victoriously pointed at his Eternal Rival's face.

"I told you that would one day come back to bite you! Your cool hip attitude is no match for his! However, with the power of YOUTH, we can SUCCEED!" By then, all the kunoichi finally got their weird urges to caress and cuddle with Naruto out of their system and got back into formation, attempting to act like nothing happened in the first place. Though Anko did backhand Gai for being a loud idiot.

Kurenai smiled warmly and said, "Sorry for putting you in a genjutsu, I've just been really stressed lately. I'm still a chunin but I'll be a jonin within a few years. I specialize in genjutsu. I'm currently dating... nobody. I've been in an on-again/off-again relationship with Asuma, but I don't really know if I want to continue with that..." This statement caught Kakashi's attention, though he hid it well since only his eye was currently visible.

"I'm basically a tracker," said Hana. "I'm fourteen and single, and I'm still a chunin as well. I'm also fairly good at medical ninjutsu, though I've specialized in veterinarian medicine because of the Haimaru Brothers," she said as she pointed towards her three enormous ninken. "My younger brother is in class with you. I think you guys'd be great friends." She smiled warmly at him upon those words.

Gai, with a red mark still on his face from Anko's vicious strike, yelled, "I AM KONOHA'S-" but Naruto cut him off.

"You screamed your name earlier, and I can only assume you're a taijutsu expert from the power of that kick," he said indifferently, causing the girls to giggle and Kakashi to smirk. Gai just sighed in disappointment for a moment before fire returned to his eyes. Before the taijutsu specialist could even utter a single sound, Naruto continued, "Now that our introductions are over, could I ask you all a question?"

They all nodded their assent so he continued, "Would you kindly help me train? I'm at a severe disadvantage to the other clan heirs, and children with parents in general. I want to be good, the best even. It is my dream to become Hokage one day, and I need to be strong to get the position."

"Why do you wish to be Hokage?" asked Kakashi smoothly.

Naruto squinted at him. Should he tell them about his plans for gaining vengeance against those that wronged him? No, that would just be silly. Maybe something a little more innocent... "So that the people in this village will acknowledge me and stop disrespecting me. I want to change this village to remove the Redlight District completely and make everyone more accepting of others." All six of his ANBU guards smiled, thinking his dream was a noble goal.

"I will teach you ninjutsu," said Kakashi first.

Gai, not to be outdone by his Eternal Rival, said, "I will train you in taijutsu."

Kurenai smiled and supplied, "I will assist you in learning genjutsu."

"I can be of help with kenjutsu, if you want," said Yugao kindly.

"Tracking and medical ninjutsu are my fortes, so I think I'll contribute that," mentioned Hana thoughtfully.

"Let's fuck shit up!" exclaimed Anko. Kurenai's glare made Anko visibly gulp and tighten her lips, and everyone else chuckled happily.


End file.
